Chaya Birth Services

10/21/2025

Welcome sweet Baby Apollonia'! Her position gave her mama a hard time, but she pushed through!

07/22/2025

Rant: I see this all the time on natural birth FB groups. Why is it ok when this happens at the hospital... but when it happens with a midwife (because some labors turn the corner quickly) it becomes the midwife's fault? I see moms blaming their midwife and implying she was incompetent or lazy. "Why did the midwife ask me if she should come? Doesn't she KNOW when to come?" or "I felt abandoned because the midwife came at the last minute" (A mom had prodromal labor for a week and then a 3 hour labor... to which the midwife barely made it)

Ok, rant over. Labor is as unpredictable as the weather. No one (OB, RN or Midwife) has a crystal ball that predicts each mom's labor. While most follow a pattern, there is occasionally one that hits you out of left field. I've had moms with contractions 5 minutes apart go for another 12 hours. And other moms who's contractions never got closer than 7 minutes apart, (even her voice sounded normal and happy) have her baby less than an hour later. I've watched frustrated husbands ask me 'How much longer?' and the only answer I can give them is 'As long as it takes'. It seems like a copout answer... but it is the only honest one I can give. I've had remarkably different labors myself. From the long, drawn-out labor, to a baby that came an hour and a half from the first contraction. At no point did I think it was my midwife's fault.

I get it, we all like a dramatic birth tale... but can we stop throwing good midwives under the bus? We already have maternity care deserts, over-reaching government regulations and not enough midwives willing to fill in the gaps. Let's apply the golden rule to our midwives too: Treat them like you would want to be treated. ☺️

(Note: None of the moms complaining have been my clients. My clients are all lovely ladies who I have had the joy of serving. That said, I am noticing a trend in FB groups of blaming midwives for things outside of their control and it's driving many of them to quit.)

06/16/2025

While it is illegal for me to get PAID to support your VBAC in Arkansas, the state does not own you. Still, Arkansas needs to do better. Moms seeking a TOLAC outside of the hospital should not have to hide in the shadows. Especially if they are well informed of the risks! This only leads to a delay in necessary transfers and higher mortality/morbidity...

05/26/2025

We are human but we still push our limits to be there for our moms!

“What does it mean to walk as a Midwife?

Well first my love, you better grow thick skin. The purposeful propaganda that started centuries ago is still strong today. Walk in a room and say you are a home birth midwife and watch what happens.

Projections, reflections, traumas, and ignorance. You will become a mirror. Remember to reflect back love and grace for you represent the thin veil between life and death. You will grow to know it well.

Being a midwife means gentle hands and whispered tones even when your heart is beating loudly in your ears and you haven't turned off your vigilance for hours/days. It's a full bladder, dehydrated mouth, and growling stomach that gets pushed aside because your presence means something.

Midwifery is stopping a hemorrhage that people don't even know is happening because youre smiling and cooing at the baby to keep up the oxytocin.It is sitting on a living room floor helping a baby cry while telling everyone, "Oh my goodness look how cute she is! Her color is getting so pink! Her heart is so strong." It is sometimes being the voice in the room that says, "I think you would benefit from an epidural." Then at the next birth you are nodding along as a woman cries she can't do it as you guide her to the tub because you know her baby is arriving soon. It is jumping for joy at that first latch and each ounce of baby weight gained.

It is knowing that these truths will be seen as sacrilegious to some and not "true" Midwifery. Then on the other side, you will have people shocked that you know how to take a blood pressure and amazed that you understand how to manage emergencies. You will not win over them all. You have to accept this.

It is knowing you are not God and you humbly submit to the understanding that you will never predict or control it all. It is missing date nights and apologizing that you have to keep getting up to answer the phone. Saying no to activities you so desperately want to do but there is no cell service and a baby is arriving soon.

But mostly, its hearing the voice in your head saying after each moment with a mother, "If that is all I ever did, it is more than enough. This is what it means to work for the Divine"
- San Juan Midwifery

05/21/2025

It's about giving women accurate information and them making the choices that they can live with.

02/24/2025

Midwife achievement unlocked...

12/27/2024

Sent off my paperwork for my Bridge Certificate! 🎉🎉

12/12/2024

What a wonderful gift! While 6-week postpartum visits always make me a little sad, I will always cherish seeing my lovely clients and their sweet babies one last time!

11/12/2024

It's been busy, but I finally have a second for a cute baby foot photo dump! ❤️💕

11/12/2024

Birth is intense... but you can do hard things!

Good advice. Labor and birth are work. That's why it's called labor!

06/13/2024

A great visual on how position can affect progress!

05/20/2024

Welcome sweet baby girl!